In The First-Generation Camaro Assembly Process I've read the Chevrolet Assembly - Paint Shop Operations Details and see where the paint stripe was applied but it's not clear if the front end sheet metal was bolted together at that point. I'm assuming it was before the stripe was applied as it makes the most sense but I can't see in the article if that was the case. The following section Chevrolet Assembly - Front Sheet Metal Subassembly seems to describe that is when the sheet metal was assembled.

I had seen that. It was just not clear in the assembly process if the nose was bolted together. It looks like the stripe was applied in Chevrolet Assembly - Paint Shop Operations Details section. What is confusing is in the Chevrolet Assembly - Front Sheet Metal Subassembly section (which comes after the Paint Shop Operations Details section) mentions "Option holes for engine emblems, antennas, Vigilite housings, nameplates and moldings were pierced in large hydraulic fender piercing fixtures before the fenders were placed in the assembly fixtures. " The latter makes it sound like the nose was not bolted together yet.

No the front fenders, and valance panel were not bolted together when they were painted. Original paint cars show a painted area inside the bolted joint that is about 1/4" or so of stripe color, on cars with bumblebee striped cars. The fenders, valance and hood were on supports and located near each other, but still several inches apart when painted. The cowl panel was painted and striped on the Fisher side of the plant in Norwood, if the car was a Z28, or Z10/Z11 in 69. Everything forward of the firewall was painted on the GM side of the plant.

Mark That sure is interesting! I'm going to loosen the top valence on my survivor to see how far below the top edge the paint goes. That is a tricky way to paint the stripe and have good visual alignment especially the 1/8" lines between the valence and fender.

Bob That is an interesting obversation about the holes in the assembly manual. I see what you mean..... Why reference the holes if they were done by a machine.

Mike,Which brings me to a question as to why view B is needed on L48 A4 if holes were punched in a hydraulic fixture?

Bob

The detail views showing the dimensioned hole locations are taken from the General Arrangement Layout; they were used to design the hydraulic piercing tool and the backup manual drill fixtures. The stripes were painted with the panels separated by several inches on the front end buck, and none of the painted panels were bolted together until well after the topcoat had cured.

Which I believe is why some of the D90 stripes don't always line up perfectly.

Correct - it was a never-ending battle in the Chevrolet front sheet metal Paint Shop developing stencils, patterns, markers, etc. to apply stripes to separated components such that they'd align later when bolted together. A good friend of mine was the Senior Process Engineer from the Chevrolet-Central Office Paint Standards Department, and part of his job was developing the stripe/stencil/tape processes and assisting the plant in getting them to work in the spray booth at 57 per hour. He spent MANY long weeks at Norwood and Van Nuys working the many stripe issues.

This topic sure was an eye opener. I thought it was done with the nose assembled to get alignment.In the spirit of trying to duplicate (intentional or not) mass production results on a restore car this is one area where I'll put the stripe back on with the nose assembled (the base coat will go on unassembled). I'm sure the viewing public will understand overspray, paint tabs, etc.....but a misaligned paint stripe....well....that may not be too easily accepted and be more of a sign on sloppy work it they don't line up. When I look at the paint runs in the door jambs, runs on the firewall header, not so perfect seam sealer finishing in the trunk weather strip wells, etc....and compare to today's higher quality automotive finished standards, the cars of yesteryear sure look sloppy.